


When I Grow Up

by Astraea802



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Matilda - Roald Dahl
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, International Fanworks Day 2016, Matilda the Musical, POV Hermione Granger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-20 22:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6028012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astraea802/pseuds/Astraea802
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1988, Hermione Granger first discovered Roald Dahl's Matilda. In 2016, Hermione takes her family to see Matilda the Musical.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I Grow Up

**Author's Note:**

> Song: "When I Grow Up" from Matilda the Musical (music and lyrics: Tim Minchin) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEohF5rUGds]

2010

If Hermione was honest with herself, she’d admit she hadn’t thought of her favorite Roald Dahl novel in  _years_. 

It was strange how something so important to her for a solid three years in her childhood could be so easily forgotten. But when her Hogwarts letter came,  much of the fantasy fiction she had loved before was crowded out by the very  _real_  books of spells and potions and magic theory she needed to absorb. And there was always so much more to learn!

But standing here in the center of muggle London, staring up at the advertisement of a little girl perched on a swing, silhouetted by the bright blue background of exploding multicolor letters, the thirty-one-year-old Ministry witch was taken back to that day at the local library when she’d first seen that book.

She had just turned nine-years-old, and had spotted it on the new arrivals shelf - a skinny wisp of a girl with straight dark hair, surrounded by mounds of books. Though she had tried and failed to love Roald Dahl’s other books ( _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_  came close, but something about  _The Witches_ had always struck her as deeply insulting, for reasons not apparent to her at the time), the cover - the character - was just so Hermione, she had to pick it up.

And while some of the things she’d disliked about his other books were still there - mainly, how horrid and stupid he made most of the adult characters, when she had never come across any such adults in reality -  _Matilda_  took hold of her. The girl herself was everything Hermione was, and everything she wanted to be: bookish, clever, kind, never mocked by her peers, and so, so brave. And the fact that being so smart, but so unchallenged in school, gave her the power to lift things with her mind… well, perhaps that explained the strange things that happened around Hermione. 

Sadly, she could never get it to work the way Matilda did. But, still, the thought comforted her for three years, right up to the day the Hogwarts letter came.

Now, all these years later,  _Matilda_  was coming to the West End. 

She needed to see this. And she needed to bring Rose and Hugo - it would be just like when her parent brought her to the West End as a child. But, Hermione bit her lip. Rose was only four years old, her brother even younger. 

She’d have to wait… and hope the show would run for a long time.

But oh, it would be worth it.

…..

2016

 _When I grow up,_  
I will be tall enough to reach the branches  
That I need to reach to climb the trees  
You get to climb when you’re grown up.

It had taken longer than Hermione had expected, but with her increased responsibilities as Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she had gotten understandably sidetracked.

It had also taken some convincing to get Ron and Hugo to come at all. Ron had never been to the West End, and never read  _Matilda_  since it was a muggle book. But once she made it clear how important it was to her, they both went to convert their wizard money to buy tickets.

And Ron was decently entertained by the show, though now and then he leaned over and asked Hermione to explain a reference (”What’s a TARDIS?” “Is this what muggle schools are really like?”). Hugo laughed at the Trunchbull quite a bit (”That man is dressed like a lady!”). 

And Rose, well… Rose looked the way Hermione imagined her younger self would have looked if she had been taken to this show - on the edge of her seat, eyes wide. Despite growing up in a world of enchantments, the magic of the theater - of music united with storytelling united with muggle ingenuity - sucked her right in. Just like the original novel had for Hermione.

 _And when I grow up,_  
I will be smart enough to answer all  
The questions that you need to know  
The answers to before you’re grown up.

Oh, how things had changed. When she read Matilda as a nine-year-old, she believed she _could_  someday know the answers to every question. 

And she had answered many questions at Hogwarts, discovered many secrets, learned all she could. But with every year, she realized there were questions too complex, answers too twisted in half-truths and lies and gray areas, to ever fully know.

It didn’t stop her from trying.

 _When I grow up…_  
I will be strong enough to carry all  
The heavy things you have to haul  
Around with you when you’re a grown up.

How could a story meant for children become _more_ relevant to her as an adult? 

(Really, after “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” she should have known better.)

In Matilda Wormwood, she saw Harry, the brave child unloved by those he called family; Ginny, whose nerve had always surpassed her size; and Luna, who was always herself, no matter how strange.

In Miss Honey, she saw Neville and Remus, often made to feel pathetic while persevering against a terrible past; and a touch, perhaps, of her dear Ron, put down for being poor despite a good heart.

So many people who, despite being so strong and brave, still had these burdens they struggled with. 

And in Miss Trunchbull? The once cartoonish caricature of adult tyranny suddenly seemed very real. 

Umbridge. 

Bellatrix. 

 _When I grow up,_  
I will be brave enough to fight the creatures  
That you have to fight beneath the bed  
Each night to be a grown up.

_When I grow up..._  
  


“Mummy, why are you crying?”

Hermione jumped, glancing at her daughter. “I’m not…” But, putting a hand to her cheek, she realized, she was. Wiping them away, she assured her daughter, “It’s okay, I’m fine.”

Ron, on her other side, squeezed her hand. Turning to him, they shared a look - a look echoing all the horror they had fought. All they were  _still_  fighting.

_Just because you find that life’s not fair, it Doesn’t mean that you just have to grin and bear it. If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change._

Still, she smiled at him. 

Because perhaps she had never truly forgotten Matilda. 

The little girl may not have come to mind while she was at Hogwarts, or cleaning up after the war, joining the Ministry, having a family.  

But maybe Matilda Wormwood had lived inside her all this time. 

Made her see injustice, and do something about it. 

And perhaps that, more than Dumbledore, more than the hat, was what had lead her to Gryffindor in the first place.


End file.
